


T1- Confession in Desperate Situation

by thudworm



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [16]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/M, Missing Scene, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 02:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: Avengers Endgame missing scene of Pepper telling Tony she's pregnant.





	T1- Confession in Desperate Situation

It was as Pepper was sitting at Tony’s bedside, waiting for him to regain consciousness, that it hit her- he was probably the last person left on earth who hadn’t heard the news yet. Which was ironic when Tony was the only person she wanted to know at this stage. 

At first it had seemed crazy when Tony had suggested she might be pregnant, based on a dream of all things; but, after he stepped through a portal because a wizard said he was needed, clearly crazy was a matter of perspective. Tony’s certainty had been enough to have her counting days in her head, and then it didn’t seem as far-fetched as she’d initially thought. 

Pepper had lost time, just sitting there staring at the two pink lines on the test, until FRIDAY reminded her of the schedule. CEO business waited for no one’s personal business; so, as much as she wanted to do nothing but wait for Tony to come home, she pulled herself together and shifted into business mode. 

She was in the lobby greeting the investors she had a meeting with when FRIDAY alerted her to Tony’s latest self sacrificial stunt- flying off into space on an alien ship to confront whoever was responsible for the destruction through the city. 

Pepper was determined that this would not be a repeat of the last time Tony had flown off into space, when she had missed what very well might have been his last phone call. This time she was the one to call him, but of course nothing could sway him from what he felt was his duty to the world. The line dropped out just as she was trying to tell Tony that she was pregnant.

Under different circumstances she would have made sure she was in private for such a confession, but in the moment she’d had more pressing concerns than the audience listening in to her conversation. 

Dial tone ringing in her ear, Pepper’d had no idea if she would ever see her husband alive again. That possible outcome had seemed even more likely after half the world turned to dust, and then more and more with each day that passed without a sign from Tony. 

Pepper had been slowly coming to grips with the idea that she was never going to be able to tell him. By day 16 Tony’s fate had seemed all but certain, but she should have known that trademark Stark Stubbornness would have something to say about the matter, to prove her wrong if nothing else. 

Sitting there, tracing the gaunt lines of Tony’s face with her eyes, left her with a lot of time to think. On top of the small set of drawers next to the bed was a stack of random magazines, some of which dated back to when she and Tony had gotten married. 

For months there had been rumours swirling about the very thing she wanted to tell Tony about, started when they announced their engagement. The prevailing assumption in the media, primarily in gossip rags like the one on the table, was that it was a shotgun wedding. Any denial they might have made would have only served to fan the flames of gossip, so when it came to planning their honeymoon she decided enough was enough. 

It wasn’t a long engagement, 6 months from the announcement to the wedding, so if the rumours had been true a pregnancy would have been very difficult to hide. She wasn’t exactly proud of it, but their honeymoon destination of a resort in Fiji was definitely chosen because it guaranteed she would be spotted by paparazzi. In a bikini. Clearly not pregnant.

Her plan had been successful in killing the rumours, but her overheard phone call brought them roaring back, worse this time because it was more than speculation. Obviously there had been more important things that should have been focused on, like whatever it was that Tony had fought, but even in the face of a possible world ending catastrophe the gossip rags were going to gossip. 

Tony had never commented on the rumours, but Pepper was sure he was aware of them. He had shut down any attempts to discuss them, talking a mile a minute over anyone who so much as thought the word. Tony had always been great with kids, like the boy from Tennessee he befriended, but the spectre of Howard Stark’s terrible job at fatherhood still haunted him. 

So it was hard to know if this was going to be welcome news, even if they didn’t have to deal with the harsh realities of how things were following Thanos’ victory. 

—-

When Tony woke, it wasn’t a gradual coming to. He snapped awake in a flail of limbs, or at least an attempted one since he was so weak. 

It took several minutes to convince him not to disconnect the lines and wires attached to him, or to fall out of the bed. Eventually Pepper’s calm reassurances sunk in for him, and he stilled. 

His first concern was who had or hadn’t survived, and, after running through the people she knew the fate of, Pepper couldn’t put off telling him any longer. 

“I have something important to tell you. Everyone else already knows, but you were right.”

“I know. I was right about everything, as much as I wished I was wrong, I was right.”

“No, no. Not about that. About what you asked me that morning before the wizard showed up.”

The confusion on Tony’s face was hard to comprehend, he was usually light years ahead of anyone else in connecting the dots like that, but Bruce had warned her that the dehydration and malnutrition would have this effect on his ability to think and remember. 

Gently, so very gently, Pepper took the hand she was holding, the one without an IV in it, and brought it to rest with the palm against her belly. 

“Really?” Tony asked. He sounded hopeful, like he didn’t dare believe it was real. 

Pepper nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak at first. 

“There’s nothing there to feel yet, but yes. You’re going to be a daddy.”


End file.
